Iran is “stirring the cauldron of religious prejudice” by stoking protests outside schools and on the streets of the UK, a new report to British intelligence services has warned.
The Policy Exchange think tank’s document says MI5 must reinstate “countersubversion operations” to deal with the threat. raised by Tehran.
It highlighted a series of protests condemning apparent cases of blasphemy, linking them to the Islamic Republic regime’s alleged influence over British Muslims.
Two of the cases he discussed were the 2021 Batley Primary School protests and protests over the film Lady from Heaven in 2022, which, according to Policy Exchange, “serve as an indication that de facto blasphemy codes can be enforce on the streets if protesters agree to do so. so’.
Dr. Paul Stott, the think tank’s head of security and extremism, told the Times that Iran has “fostered an atmosphere in which anything that smacks of blasphemy leads to intimidation.”
One study says ICEL’s director is appointed by Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei (pictured), suggesting the center is “not simply a dry, arid religious institution” but rather “lies in the center of a substantial network of Iranian influence operations within the country. this country’
Protests took place outside the gates of Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire in 2021.
Controversy: Poster for the movie The Lady from the Sky
Some theaters made the decision to pull the film from theaters following the backlash. Pictured: Cineworld in Birmingham
The report further said that Iran is threatening Britain’s security and values ​​by sending regime-sponsored radical clerics to a “nerve centre” in west London.
The Islamic Republic of Iran’s hardliners have spent decades ‘healing a political-religious infrastructure in Britain’ centered on the Islamic Center of England (ICEL), a UK-registered charity based in a converted cinema in Maida Ok, according to a Policy Exchange study.
It suggests Iran is using the center as a base from which to “undermine our values ​​and impose blasphemy codes.”
It says ICEL’s director is appointed by Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei, suggesting the center is “not simply a dry, arid religious institution” but “is at the center of a substantial network of influence operations.” Iranian inside this country.
In 2021, cinemas saw protests by Muslims who claimed that the film Lady from Heaven was “blasphemous”. Pictured: Birmingham
ICEL, which states its charitable purpose is to promote the religion of Islam and education and the provision of social and religious welfare facilities, is at the center of a legal investigation by the Charity Commission.
The watchdog launched its investigation in November 2022 after issuing the charity an official warning in 2020 when two events at the center ‘praised’ Iranian military commander General Qasem Soleimani, who was the target of UK sanctions and died in a US air raid.
A number of senior clerics trained and loyal to the Iranian regime have been able to travel freely between Tehran and London – even as Iran has imprisoned British citizens such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – according to the report, titled “Tehran Calling: The Iranian Threat to the United Kingdom,” he said.
The UK has a long-standing policy of issuing visas for Iranian clerics to work in Britain, it says, claiming that 100 such visas were issued between 2005 and 2022.
The report also criticizes MI5 for apparently abandoning its “core task” of countersubversion at a time when Iran is seeking to “influence political, religious, educational or cultural organizations, or shape contemporary protest movements, for its own purposes.” .
ICEL, which states its charitable purpose is to promote the religion of Islam and education and the provision of social and religious welfare facilities, is at the center of a legal investigation by the Charity Commission. In the photo: Iran’s supreme leader and Iranian clerics.
He adds: “The idea that Iran may be trying to influence British Muslims, and that it may be someone’s job to stop this, has not been openly articulated by the Security Service.”
Policy Exchange urged the Home Secretary to order the Home Office and Security Service to take urgent action to counter Iranian subversion in the UK.
He also called for a crackdown on the issuance of visas in the UK to hardline clerics and Iranians coming to work at ICEL and any associated institutions.
The report’s author, Dr Paul Stott, said: “Iran challenges our security, but it also threatens the UK’s social cohesion and our values. “Allowing it to build and sustain infrastructure in this country is madness.
“We need to be much smarter in our response, and that starts with proper control of the visa system.”